Auto workers protest Nissan restructuring plans

[Ulhas Joglekar]

25 December 1999
Auto workers protest Nissan restructuring plans
TOKYO: Auto workers from around Japan demonstrated Thursday outside a Nissan
Motor Co. factory, protesting its planned closure under a new cost-cutting
plan that will eliminate thousands of jobs.
Shouting slogans and carrying placards, the demonstrators marched past
Nissan's Murayama plant in suburban Tokyo. Organizers said about 3,000
people took part in the protest march. Police put the number at 1,800.
Japan's second-largest automaker has been ridden with debt and undertook a
campaign to remake itself after Renault SA of France bought a 36.8 percent
stake in it earlier this year.
It has announced plans to close three domestic assembly plants, including
the Murayama facility, and cut 21,000 jobs worldwide over the next three
years.
"We want Nissan to rethink its restructuring plan and let the Murayama
factory stay open," said Kanemichi Kumagai, an official with the National
Confederation of Trade Unions.
His organization, which has 1.5 million members, organized the
demonstration. But workers from Nissan rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda
Motor Corp. were among the demonstrators, Kumagai said.
As part of the revival program, Renault dispatched Brazilian-born Carlos
Ghosn, a top executive known for slashing costs, to serve as Nissan's chief
operating officer.
Illustrating the high-profile Ghosn has taken here, one man at Thursday's
protest wore a sign on his chest with "Carlos Ghosn, go back to France,"
written in Japanese.
Kumagai said 40 Nissan workers from the factory went on strike Thursday to
join the march. A plant official, who asked not to be identified, said he
was unaware of any walk-out. He said operations at the plant, which produced
about 300,000 vehicles last year, were normal.
Last month, Nissan said it expects losses of 590 billion yen ($5.7 billion)
on its worldwide operations for the fiscal year ending in March 2000 - its
seventh loss in eight years.
Under the restructuring plan, Nissan will cut its work force to 127,000 by
the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2002. About 16,500 jobs will be cut in
Japan, another 2,400 in Europe and about 1,000 in the US. Most of the cuts
will come in Japan, where Nissan also plans to shutter two components
factories. The three manufacturing plants will be closed by March 2001 and
domestic production capacity will drop by 30 percent.
Japan is struggling to emerge from its worst economic downturn in a half
century. Earlier this year, the jobless rate reached a record high of 4.9
percent as companies have cut payrolls in a bid to raise competitiveness.
Other companies have announced restructuring plans, including
telecommunications giant NTT Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. NTT said it
will cut 21,000 jobs over three years, while Mitsubishi plans to cut an
additional 9,900 jobs over the next five years on top of the 2,500 slashed
last year. (Associated Press)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 1999.